Joe Strummer on stage with the Clash in 1980.
Photograph: Larry Hulst/Getty Images

A new compilation of Joe Strummer’s output beyond his recordings with the Clash will include 12 previously unreleased songs. The 32-track double album Joe Strummer 001 was overseen by Strummer’s widow, Lucinda Tait, Robert Gordon McHarg III and Grammy winner Peter J Moore, and includes recordings by his bands the 101’ers and the Mescaleros in addition to solo material.

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It was Moore who unearthed the hidden tracks in Strummer’s archives, discovering that the songwriter and guitarist would often leave 20 minutes between songs on his cassettes and “superimpose” tracks on to eight-track recordings, which Moore disentangled.

The release features an early demo of the Clash’s 1985 song This Is England titled CzechoslovakSong/Where Is England, a solo demo of Letsagetabitarockin recorded in 1975 on Elgin Avenue in the Maida Vale neighbourhood where Strummer squatted with the 101’ers, outtakes from Sid & Nancy featuring Clash guitarist Mick Jones and unreleased songs Rose of Erin, The Cool Impossible and London Is Burning, one of Strummer’s final recordings.

Other previously unreleased songs include US North, an unused Strummer and Jones collaboration from the soundtrack to the 1988 comedy Candy Mountain, the demo Before We Go Forward recorded with Clash bassist Paul Simonon and drummer Pete Howard, and a track titled US North Basement Demo recorded in 1986 and featuring Strummer and Jones on vocals, guitar and drum machine.

Strummer’s library of his own work was discovered after his death in December 2002. He stored writings and tapes in his garden, many of which now live among the 20,000 items in the Joe Strummer Archive. A hardback book accompanying the new release features rarely seen and previously unpublished memorabilia plus historical press reviews and technical notes about the recordings.